Navan woman reunited with lost purse six months later with contents still inside

A Navan woman has been reunited with a purse she lost after it was handed into a Garda station in Dublin six months later with all of the contents still inside!

Cathy Meehan thought she was the victim of a scam when she received an anonymous call last week to say her purse that she lost in Dublin in July of last year had been found along with money, her cards and lotto ticket still in tact.

So convinced that someone was having her on, Cathy hung up the phone in frustration but the determined caller tried again and this time assured the Navan woman that it wasn't a prank and her purse was waiting for her in a Dublin Garda Station.

"I got a phone call from an unknown number to say my purse had been found and to ring Shankill Garda Station," said Cathy.

"Thinking it was a scam I told her to feck off in not such a nice tone of voice and I hung up!" she added.

"She rang back a minute later to say it wasn't a scam so I rang the number out of curiosity.

"She told me my purse had been handed in with money in it and a lotto ticket and could I come and pick it up so I picked it up this morning and all of the contents were still in it including Є150 in cash.

"I just couldn't believe it, I thought the purse and all that was in it was long gone.

"It goes to show that there are good people out there.

"I'm straight out to check the lotto ticket seeing as my luck is in although I think it might be invalid at this stage but you never know!"

Cathy was in Dublin with her son Liam for an appointment he had at The National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) in Dún Laoghaire when she lost the purse as she explains:

"It was around the time of Liam's birthday so we got a bus from Dún Laoghaire into Bray and from there we got the train into the city and we went for a meal. It wasn't until a couple of hours after we came back that I realised that the purse was gone and my heart sank.

"The nurse there was great and helped me report it and lock the cards but I couldn't get home then because I had no bus ticket and no money so I had to ring my sister to pick us up."

The Navan mum said she had accepted the purse was gone and didn't think much more about it until that fateful phone call.

"It was July when I lost the purse and I assumed that maybe they were going through lost property after Christmas and came across it but she said no to my knowledge it was only handed in the last couple of days," said Cathy.

"I was really baffled and thought that maybe it had been stuck down a cushion on the bus or train but someone said they regularly clean the upholstery on them so you think it would have been found sooner if that was the case.

"It's a mystery but I'm really glad I got it back."

Cathy attends regular check ups at The National Rehabilitation Hospital (NRH) in Dún Laoghaire with her son Liam (16) who miraculously survived a serious accident having been hit by a car in Navan aged seven.

"It was the week before his 8th birthday and he was hit by a car as he was crossing the road with his sister at Abbey Road," explains Cathy.

"The ambulance was taking a while to arrive, he had taken a couple of seizures and he was blue," she remembers.

" An off duty doctor happened to be in the area at the time and he was able to go to his car and get breathing apparatus and give him some air and I believed that doctor saved his life.

"I never found out who he was but I always wanted to tell him how grateful we were.

"Liam had a swell on the brain and they put him in an induced coma and he was asleep for four or five weeks.

"He had a broken leg, a broken hip and broken jaw and had a fracture on his skull but kids are so resilient and within about six weeks the child was running around like there was nothing wrong with him.

"It was an absolute miracle how well he bounced back.

"He was lucky to come out the other side of it.

"My dad was in hospital at the same time with cancer and he passed away, I always think it was him that was looking out for Liam."